CIRCULAR MATERIAL USE RATE

    Descrizione 1
    Update date
    Authors

    Renato Marra Campanale

    Abstract
    Immagine
    Abstract

    The circular material use rate measures the share of material resources reused by an economy. In the period 2004–2022, Italy's circular material use rate increased from 5.8% to 18.7%.
     

    Description

    The circular material use rate (Circular Material Use Rate – CMUR in English) measures the contribution of reused materials (R) relative to total material use (T) across the entire economy and by resource category (biomass, metal ores, non-metallic minerals, fossil fuels). The indicator thus represents the percentage of secondary raw materials used in production processes. This indicator was developed by Eurostat and published, starting in January 2018, within the Monitoring Framework of the European Commission's Communication 'Closing the loop - An EU action plan for the Circular Economy', COM(2015) 614 final, followed by Communication COM(2020) 98 final of March 2020 'A new Circular Economy Action Plan - For a cleaner and more competitive Europe'.

    Purpose

    The purpose is to measure the contribution of recycled materials relative to the total demand for materials. A higher CMUR indicates that a greater amount of secondary raw materials replaces extracted or imported materials, and the indicator also emphasizes, as it is structured, the effort an economy puts into collecting materials intended for recovery.

    Policy relevance and utility for users
    It is of national scope or it is applicable to environmental issues at the regional level but of national relevance.
    It can describe the trend without necessarily evaluating it.
    It is simple and easy to interpret.
    It is sensitive to changes occurring in the environment and/or in human activities
    It provides a representative picture of environmental conditions, environmental pressures, and societal responses
    It provides a basis for international comparisons.
    Analytical soundness
    Be based on international standards and international consensus about its validity;
    Be theoretically well founded in technical and scientific terms
    Presents reliability and validity of measurement and data collection methods
    Temporal comparability
    Spatial comparability
    Measurability (data)
    Adequately documented and of known quality
    Updated at regular intervals in accordance with reliable procedures
    Readily available or made available at a reasonable cost/benefit ratio
    An “adequate” spatial coverage
    An “appropriate” temporal coverage
    Main regulatory references and objectives

    Communication COM(2020) 98 final of March 11, 2020, 'A new Circular Economy Action Plan - For a cleaner and more competitive Europe'. The COM(2020) 98 Communication aims to "double the percentage of circular material use in the next decade.

    DPSIR
    Response
    Indicator type
    Policy effectiveness (D)
    References

    Circular material use rate — Calculation method — 2018 edition. Eurostat, Luxembourg (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-GQ-18-013?inheritRedirect=true&redirect=%2Feurostat%2Fpublications%2Fmanuals-and-guidelines)

    Limitations

    The material input of an economic system consists of both raw materials and secondary raw materials, both domestic and imported. Secondary raw materials are subdivided as follows: a) materials (wastes) recovered; b) materials (not derived from waste management) generated as by-products of certain production processes; these by-products can be further subdivided into b.1) materials with economic value exchanged between plants; b.2) intra-plant flows. Case a) can be approximated by waste statistics, assuming that the input to recovery plants equals the output and that all of it becomes secondary raw material. Case b) is currently excluded from official statistics. Ultimately, what is currently evaluated is only the contribution of the waste management system to the circular economy. Other circular uses of materials, such as industrial symbiosis, are excluded. In the future, the portion of secondary raw materials not derived from waste may grow due to its increasing value. In other words, it is expected that the valorization of these materials and their circular flows will be more integrated into the ordinary economy. This will not be visible as circular use but only as reduced extraction of natural resources.

    Frequenza di rilevazione dei dati
    Annuale
    Fonte dei dati
    ISPRA
    Data availabilty

    Database di Eurostat per dati EU27 e Stati membri: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_ac_cur/default/table?lang=en

    Spatial coverage

    National

    Time coverage

    2004-2022

    Processing methodology

    The processing relies on the integration of three data sources: waste statistics (ISPRA); international trade statistics (Istat); material flow accounts (Istat). The indicator is defined as the ratio (R / T) between reused materials (R) and total material use (T). A higher rate corresponds to a greater use of secondary materials replacing primary raw materials (and thus extracted natural resources). The numerator (R) includes: "Waste recovery" minus "Waste imports for recovery" plus "Waste exports for recovery." Note that "Waste recovery" does not include energy recovery and backfilling. The denominator (T) includes: "Domestic material consumption" plus reused materials (R). For further details: Circular material use rate — Calculation method — 2018 edition. Eurostat, Luxembourg (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-GQ-18-013?inheritRedirect=true&redirect=%2Feurostat%2Fpublications%2Fmanuals-and-guidelines)

    Update frequency
    Year
    Qualità dell'informazione

    The indicator is calculated according to the transparency, accuracy, consistency, comparability over time and space, and completeness requirements of the reference methodology.

    State
    Good
    Trend
    Positive
    State assessment/description

    In 2022, the material circularity rate reached 18.7%, after peaking in 2020 at 20.6%. Italy’s performance in this area of circularity is better than the European average, which stood at 11.5% in 2022 (Table 1, Figure 1).

    Trend assessment/description

    The circular material use rate increased from 5.8% to 18.7% between 2004 and 2022, a rise of nearly 13 percentage points. This trend can be considered positive (Table 1, Figure 1).

    Comments

    Between 2004 and 2022, Italy’s circular material use rate increased from 5.8% to 18.7% (+12.9 percentage points), showing much stronger growth compared to the European Union, which during the same period increased from 8.2% to 11.5% (+3.3 percentage points). Since 2010, the indicator can be shown disaggregated by material type: biomass, metal ores, non-metallic minerals, and fossil fuels. As shown in Table 1, in 2022, the most reused materials are those derived from metal ores (47.4%), followed by non-metallic minerals (23.2%) and biomass (16.4%).

    Data
    Thumbnail
    Headline

    Figure 1: Circular material use rate. Italy, 2004-2022

    Data source

    ISPRA

    Headline

    Table 1: Circular material use rate

    Data source

    ISPRA

    Note

    2022: provisional estimates

    English